Hundreds in TCI download Bip when Facebook platforms suffered global meltdown

#TurksandCaicos, October 8, 2021 – The three most popular social media apps for Turks and Caicos residents crashed for over six hours on Monday (Oct 4) and the loss of the platforms drove over 1,000 residents in the span of under 3 hours to download BIP in order to remain connected to family and friends.

Digicel TCI general manager Addision Stoddard said they immediately issued invites to thousands of residents to join the Bip nation, many acquiesced and were able to communicate in much the same way they would on WhatsApp.

It did not stop everyone wondering though, what in the world happened to cause such a prolonged blackout on the Facebook owned sites Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp!  Service providers – Flow and Digicel were first to be contacted by customers.

“I was informed of this around 12:30 pm, of the issue and then around 1:30 pm it was confirmed that it was not local.  So, we were just trying to confirm whether it was the local system or the regional system, so once they (telecommunications operators) were able to confirm that it was beyond (as you know) FlowTCI and DigicelTCI have regional counterparts, so (we learned) that it was not the server in Jamaica or Bermuda, where perhaps their major service is, we could see it was an international issue,” said Kenvar Williams, Director General of the Turks and Caicos Islands Telecommunications Commission (TCITCC).

It soon became clear that the meltdown as Mr. Williams described it was not as a result of a local systems failure, but one that impacted the regional and the world.

“Not being able to communicate via those platforms, to us (TCITCC) it is of concern, but it is not of concern simply in a broader scale because it was not a local issue, so from the Commission’s standpoint, that is a relief.”

Kenvar Williams said when telecoms companies convene, these potential scenarios are always discussed and this disappearance by three major social media apps, simultaneously for such a lengthy time will be a hot talking point mainly because monopolies are deemed unhealthy.

“The Commission is a part of a regional telecommunications regulatory company and we have meetings to see how we can regulate and control monopolies regionally and then we have an international forum where sometimes we have meetings and dialogues with the FCC, in the Caribbean region and sit with other countries to discuss important issues such as what is happening now.”

Happening now was a disappearance of the platforms for some six hours, impacting nearly 5 billion union around the globe.  Around 6 pm, Facebook advised that services were beginning to be restored.  By 7pm the Turks and Caicos Islands, like much of the Caribbean had use of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, though their performances seemed labored and slow.

No major damage was done to the Turks and Caicos; though this blackout did put an uncomfortable pause on social media interactions and would have some impact on business, it did not cripple the marketplace.  Facebook described as an internal problem caused by “a faulty configuration change.”

It was the longest service disruption for FB since 2008 and fueled a bad day on the stock market, as Facebook shares plunged nearly 5 per cent; the biggest daily drop since last year November for the social media company.

Facebook on Monday, also said they were not yet back to 100 per cent on services, “so you may wanna keep Bippin.”